Cindy Hyde-Smith jokes about sitting on 'front row' of public hanging, video shows

Mississippi US Senate candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith speaks to supporters after a runoff was declared between Hyde-Smith and Mike Espy.
Sarah Warnock, Clarion Ledger

Lamar White Jr. tweeted a short video clip of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith joking about being on the front row of a public hanging in Tupelo, Mississippi, on November 11, 2018.(Photo: Lamar White Jr./Twitter)

A small crowd in Tupelo laughed after Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith joked about sitting on the front row of a public hanging if she were invited by a cattle rancher, a video published to Twitter shows.

Lamar White Jr., publisher of Bayou Brief in Louisiana, posted the 10-second video clip on his public Twitter account Sunday morning. It's been viewed more than 700,000 times and has thousands of retweets.

Melissa Scallan, spokeswoman for Hyde-Smith, said the event where the video was recorded took place on Nov. 2.

"If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row," Hyde-Smith said in an embrace with Hutchinson, surrounded by supporters holding Hyde-Smith campaign signs, the video shows.

White said on Twitter that Hutchinson had just finished praising Hyde-Smith when she made the comment.

"If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row"- Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith says in Tupelo, MS after Colin Hutchinson, cattle rancher, praises her.

Stumping in Mississippi which has the highest number of “recorded” lynchings of black people, Cindy Hyde-Smith says she’d be in the front row of a public hanging. Folks like Cindy don’t think or care about being implicitly or explicitly racist. https://t.co/zWjS6w19eg

Cindy Hyde-Smith responds

Hyde-Smith released a statement about the video on Sunday afternoon.

"In a comment on Nov. 2, I referred to accepting an invitation to a speaking engagement. In referencing the one who invited me, I used an exaggerated expression of regard, and any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation is ridiculous," Hyde-Smith said in an email.

Mike Espy's campaign responds

Espy's campaign also responded to the video.

“Cindy Hyde-Smith's comments are reprehensible," Campaign Communications Director Danny Blanton said in an email. "They have no place in our political discourse, in Mississippi, or our country. We need leaders, not dividers, and her words show that she lacks the understanding and judgement to represent the people of our state.”

Hyde-Smith said on Friday she's open to a public debate with Espy before the runoff election.